Let the Children Play, Some More

September 2, 2009, 9:30 pm

Let the Children Play (Some More)

By Stuart Brown

Here on the balmy central coast of California and all across the country, kids are heading back to school. The classes are larger, the No Child Left Behind mandates remain in place and, despite advice from the nation’s secretary of health and human services and others, recess and physical education (not to mention art and music instruction) have in many schools been cut back or eliminated. While most of our backpack-laden kids are eager to catch up with friends they haven’t seen over the summer, the general feeling is that “playtime is over.”

Even if summer does not bring children a complete release from their over-organized, cell-phone-computer-TV-and-video-game-saturated lives, it does offer most a bit of free “goof-off” time – the sort that leads to physical activity and elective, self-organized play, often in short supply during the school year. Still, it’s not enough. Goof-off time shouldn’t be limited to summer vacation: it’s important all year.

For most American children in the not-so-distant past, “going out to play” was the norm. Today, according to a University of Michigan study, children spend 50 percent less time outside than they did just 20 years ago — and the 6.5 hours a day they spend with electronic media means that sitting in front of a screen has replaced going out.

Through the lens of play research, we can see that there is a direct line between play deficiencies and some frightening public health and social trends: tragic statistics for obesity, 4.5 million children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, an increase in childhood depression and classroom behavioral problems involving violence, and an inability to interact well with peers.

Just an hour a day of vigorous play — running, chasing, games like tag or dodge ball, and even dealing with or avoiding being excluded from these activities — can provide intense skill learning. Physical activity is known to lessen the symptoms of mild ttention deficit disorder, and is associated with much lower incidences of childhood obesity. Active kids are also more facile intellectually and perform better academically in the long term.

Physically engaging play is actually more fun than the virtual sort, and the enlivenment one gets from it can transcend the allure of sedentary life in a two-dimensional, electronic world. But breaking away from the draw of a well-crafted, image-laden on-screen story line requires broad cultural reinforcement. It helps to be aware of how important play is to one’s development. To make that happen, we need a change in public consciousness about play — to show that it is not trivial or elective — as well as focused community and parental support.

Evidence from around the scientific compass — neuroscience, psychology, exercise physiology, sociology and developmental biology — has revealed the importance of play. Deprive a social mammal like a rat or monkey of its normal rough-and-tumble play and it enters adulthood emotionally fragile, unable to tell friend from foe, poor at handling stress and lacking the skills to mate properly.

My studies of young homicidal males and felony drunken drivers revealed that most had lacked normal, developmentally appropriate rough and tumble play as children and pre-adolescents, while a control population had experienced typical playground give and take during their elementary and middle school years.

The differences in playfulness when adulthood arrives (I have followed more than 6,000 detailed play histories) validates the importance of lifelong play. Play-deprived adults are often rigid, humorless, inflexible and closed to trying out new options. Playfulness enhances the capacity to innovate, adapt and master changing circumstances. It is not just an escape. It can help us integrate and reconcile difficult or contradictory circumstances. And, often, it can show us a way out of our problems. There are numerous examples of difficult, deadlocked negotiations that were broken open by a joke or humorous incident. Many people have had the experience of coming back from vacation brimming with new ideas for work. The benefits of play come not from “rest” for the brain, as if play is just a time-out from life. Play is an active process that reshapes our rigid views of the world.

True play may seem pointless — it is done for its own sake, because it’s fun — but ultimately it is also useful. From an evolutionary perspective, the smarter the animal, the more they play. For humans, play reinvigorates us not because it is down time, but because it gets us in touch with our core selves and the joy of life.

Even if I didn’t know all I do about the concrete benefits of play, I would feel sad about the kids (and their parents) who have given up on play for another nine months. Knowing what I do, I can see that their autumnal devaluation of play is a tragic loss for them and for our society.

Stuart Brown, is founder and president of the National Institute for Play, author of “Play, How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul.”

Can Guilt Be Good?

From the NY Times,
August 25, 2009

Guilt and Atonement on the Path to Adulthood

By JOHN TIERNEY

Here is an experiment you don’t want to try at home.

Show a toy — a doll, say, or a model boat — to a toddler and explain that it it’s something special you’ve had since you were little. Ask the child to be “very careful” with it. Hand over the toy, which appears to be in fine condition, except that you’ve secretly rigged it to break spectacularly as soon as the child handles it.

When your precious toy falls apart, express regret by mildly saying, “Oh, my.” Then sit still and observe the child.

The point is not to permanently traumatize anyone — the researchers who performed this experiment quickly followed it with a ritual absolving the child of blame. But first, for 60 seconds after the toy broke, the psychologists recorded every reaction as the toddlers squirmed, avoided the experimenter’s gaze, hunched their shoulders, hugged themselves and covered their faces with their hands.

It was part of a long-term study at the University of Iowa to isolate the effects of two distinct mechanisms that help children become considerate, conscientious adults. One mechanism, measured in other experiments testing toddlers’ ability to resist temptations, is called effortful self-control — how well you can think ahead and deliberately suppress impulsive behavior that hurts yourself and others.

The other mechanism is less rational and is especially valuable for children and adults with poor self-control. It’s the feeling measured in that broken-toy experiment: guilt, or what children diagnose as a “sinking feeling in the tummy.”

Guilt in its many varieties — Puritan, Catholic, Jewish, etc. — has often gotten a bad rap, but psychologists keep finding evidence of its usefulness. Too little guilt clearly has a downside — most obviously in sociopaths who feel no remorse, but also in kindergartners who smack other children and snatch their toys. Children typically start to feel guilt in their second year of life, says Grazyna Kochanska, who has been tracking children’s development for two decades in her laboratory at the University of Iowa. Some children’s temperament makes them prone to guilt, she said, and some become more guilt-prone thanks to parents and other early influences.

“Children respond with acute and intense tension and negative emotions when they are tempted to misbehave, or even anticipate violating norms and rules,” Dr. Kochanska said. “They remember, often subconsciously, how awful they have felt in the past.”

In Dr. Kochanska’s latest studies, published in the August issue of The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, she and colleagues found that 2-year-olds who showed more chagrin during the broken-toy experiment went on to have fewer behavioral problems over the next five years. That was true even for the ones who scored low on tests measuring their ability to focus on tasks and suppress strong desires to act impulsively.

“If you have high guilt,” Dr. Kochanska said, “it’s such a rapid response system, and the sensation is so incredibly unpleasant, that effortful control doesn’t much matter.”

But self-control was critical to children in the studies who were low in guilt, because they still behaved well if they had high self-control.

“Even if you don’t have that sinking feeling in the tummy, you can still suppress impulses,” Dr. Kochanska said. “You can stop and remember what your parents told you. You can stop and reflect on the consequences for others and yourself.”

But what if your child lacks both self-control and guilt? What can you do? And should you feel guilty for doing a lousy job of parenting?

Well, you could blame yourself, although researchers haven’t been able to link any particular pattern of parenting to children’s levels of guilt, says June Tangney, a psychologist at George Mason University. But Dr. Tangney, who has studied guilt extensively in both children and adults, including prison inmates, does have some advice for parents. (To offer your thoughts on parents and guilt, go to nytimes.com/tierneylab.)

“The key element is the difference between shame and guilt,” Dr. Tangney says. Shame, the feeling that you’re a bad person because of bad behavior, has repeatedly been found to be unhealthy, she says, whereas guilty feelings focused on the behavior itself can be productive. But it’s not enough, Dr. Tangney says, for parents just to follow the old admonition to criticize the sin, not the sinner. “Most young children,” Dr. Tangney said, “really don’t hear the distinction between ‘Johnny, you did a bad thing’ versus ‘Johnny, you’re a bad boy.’ They hear ‘bad kid.’ I think a more active, directive approach is needed.”

She recommends focusing not just on the bad deed, but more important, on how to make amends. “Both children and adults can be surprisingly clueless about whether and how to make things right,” Dr. Tangney said. “Little kids are overwhelmed by the spilled mess of milk on the floor. Parents can teach and support them to say ‘I’m sorry’ and to clean it up, maybe leaving the kitchen a little cleaner than it was before.”

That was the same atonement strategy, by the way, followed by the experimenters in Iowa who tricked the children with the broken toy. After the 60 seconds of angst, the children were asked what had happened and then were told that the toy could be easily repaired. The researcher would then leave the room with the broken toy and return in half a minute with an intact replica of it. The experimenter took the blame for having caused the damage, reassuring the children that it wasn’t their fault and that the toy was now as good as new anyway.

No harm, no foul, no guilt. If only the rest of their lives were so simple.

Volunteering in the Classroom

Discover great ideas on how to give your time — no matter how much you can spare.

By Shama Narang

Source: Scholastic Parents

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Research shows that children whose parents pitch in at school have a better attitude and higher academic achievement. Teachers who have classroom support do their job better. And parents who participate in the classroom are better equipped to support their child's schoolwork. So even if your time is tight, squeezing in some school volunteer work can make all the difference in your family's school success.

Get Started
Call or write your child's teacher to ask how you can help. In addition to being a class parent who helps with special activities and serves as a point of contact with other students' families, there are other ways you can get involved. Most teachers will have ideas, including reading to the class, setting up arts and crafts projects, helping to run a Book Fair, filing and making copies, speaking at career day, etc.

Know Thyself
What are your interests, abilities, and skills? Do you prefer working independently or following a set path? How do you really feel about a room full of kids? Would you rather work at home? What's your schedule? You might not adore every task, but it shouldn't drive you crazy either. Discuss your preferences and talents with the teacher to find an appropriate role.

The Red Tape
Volunteer guidelines vary between schools and districts. You may just be able to show up at the scheduled time and check in with the receptionist, but some schools require applications, medical documentation, or even fingerprinting and criminal record checks. Additionally, some schools don't allow parents to volunteer in their own child's classroom. Check with your child's teacher or school office for information on your district's policy.

Best Behavior
If you're going to be in the classroom with students, let your child's teacher set the tone. Wait until you've been introduced before you interact with the class. Respecting the fact that the classroom is the teacher's domain will help you communicate and build a good relationship.

What to Do
Both working and stay-at-home parents have advantages when it comes to helping out. While being available during school hours allows time to chaperone a class party, working parents can invite kids to their office for a career day. Discuss ideas that appeal to you with your child's teacher to find the best contribution for you both. Here are some suggestions:

At School:

• Come in and talk about your career; bring props to engage kids.
• Read to the class or individual students.
• Share your culture or ethnic background with food and celebrations.
• Tutor struggling students.
• Supervise kids on the playground or at the library.
• Help out with an art or science activity.
• Direct an activity or share a special skill.
• Set up and clean up a class party.
• Chaperone a field trip.

At Your Home or Office:

• Make copies; type and proofread classroom materials; put together a mailing.
• Create, update, or maintain a class Web site.
• Help plan a school event, like a play, dance, or parent night.
• Clip coupons or bargain-hunt for classroom supplies.
• Phone other parents at the teacher's direction.
• Assemble gift bags or favors for a class party.
• Invite the class for a tour of your office or place of business.

Anytime:

• Recruit other parents to help.
• Research and organize community service projects.
• Coordinate a school fundraiser.
• Join a PTA committee.
• Put your own expertise and connections to work — do you know a printer who could help with the newsletter? Are you a computer whiz who could help build a Web site? Would your employer donate supplies? Could you help build a set or loan tools for the building efforts? Could you help start a student internship with your company?

Be Creative (Within Reason)
Your help — no matter how imaginative or practical — will be appreciated. Just be sure to clear your plans with your child's teacher beforehand and stick to the guidelines you both establish. Sharing your particular talents is the best way to make a contribution that will satisfy everyone.

Parent Teacher Association: Scholastic Answers FAQs
Explains what the PTA actually does. Features answers to FAQs about membership, the benefits of participation, and required time and monetary commitments.

Class Parent Requirements and Recommended Activities
Discover what's expected of a classroom parent, learn the benefits, and choose from a list of popular jobs, including contributing to the class newsletter.

Class Parties: Planning Strategies and Party Ideas
Details class party planning strategies, including what you should discuss with the teacher beforehand. Describes options for party themes, activities, and supplies.

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A Summary of BOE Actions in the 2008 Year that Was, from the Stamford Advocate

Stamford's School Year Saw a Closing and Redistrictings

by Wynne Parry, Posted 1/5/2009

STAMFORD - For Stamford schools, 2008 brought dramatic twists and a few conclusions to longstanding questions.

In July, the Board of Education decided to close Rogers Magnet Elementary after scrutinizing a number of schools, in particular Toquam Magnet, and mobilizing parents at each one. In the end, only Rogers embraced the idea of closing its old building and moving into a new, largely state-funded, building on Blachley Road.

The decision set up the board to finish redistricting to align the socio-economic make-up of individual schools with the district average and balance enrollment. In September, the board selected from four options crafted by Superintendent Joshua Starr.

According to enrollment data from October 2007, the plan would force about 408 first- and second-graders to change schools. Since the decision, parents of affected students have continued pressuring the board to grant exceptions so their children will not have to move schools in the fall.

The ramifications, including the cost of extra buses while the plan is implemented, are to be discussed during budget deliberations this month.

In what may have been the most surprising move in 2008, the state Board of Education voted to recommend closing the beleaguered J.M. Wright Technical High School for two years to help close a $6 billion budget deficit. The vote came three months after the board approved a plan to revive the vocational high school with a college preparatory curriculum offered with Norwalk Community College, and after an energetic new principal arrived with plans to recruit aggressively.

The recommendation affects Trailblazers Academy, the charter middle school in the Wright Tech building. Like a number of other organizations, the nonprofit Domus Foundation, which runs Trailblazers, is eyeing the Rogers building on Lockwood Avenue.

Rogers students are expected to start classes in the new building in the fall. With the help of a volunteer marketing consultant, students, staff and parents recommended naming it Rogers International School.

Although the new building was intended to house a magnet school, the decision to move the Rogers students there and expand through eighth grade means no magnet seats will be open to other Stamford students. To receive state money, at least 25 percent of students must live outside the district.

Stamford schools continued to struggle under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which in 2007-08 required that eight of 10 students score at or above a proficient level in math and reading.

Last year, Westover Elementary School preserved its place as the only Stamford school to consistently meet test score goals, though Newfield Elementary improved scores and met the goal.

In November, state consultants visited 10 Stamford schools with histories of failing to meet goals. Results are expected in the first quarter of 2009.

At the end of last year's budget talks, elected officials approved an education budget of $220.9 million, a 5.9 percent increase. Because of the nation's economic crisis, the budget likely will be leaner this year. The state Board of Education has proposed cuts that could strip millions of dollars in aid from Stamford.

The district continued with Starr's plans to update curriculum to ensure consistency districtwide. At the begining of the school year, new art, physical education and health curriculums were implemented. But in December the health curriculum was suspended after complaints from the teachers' union that physical education teachers, who are not certified in health, were teaching it.

- Staff Writer Wynne Parry can be reached at 964-2263 or wynne.parry@scni.com.

Reading Is NOT Fundamental

from Slate Magazine
Reading Is NOT Fundamental
How to help your child learn to read.
By Alan E. Kazdin and Carlo Rotella
Posted Friday, Jan. 2, 2009, at 7:11 AM ET

As a parent, you feel a special deep panic when you realize that your child—your beautiful, clever, funny child, who regularly surprises you with precocious bons mots, who built an ingenious bow out of tubing and rubber bands that can shoot a chopstick across the living room with remarkable accuracy—is having trouble learning to read. Meanwhile, all the other kids appear to be breezing along, polishing off Harry Potter books while your child stumbles over the difference between "how" and "now." You don't want to be one of those hysterical parents who gets all crazy about every little developmental bump in the road, but, hey, your kid can't really read yet, and the others can. In your darker moments you feel the desolate urge to ratchet down your ambitions for your child from valedictorian to graduating at all.

Such fears may be exaggerated, but they're not irrational. Reading ability does predict school achievement and success (which is, of course, related to income, health, and other factors), and reading gains ever greater importance beyond school, as more jobs are now based on information and technology. Failure to read places significant limits on how one fares in other parts of life. And a lot of people never do learn to read well: Approximately 40 percent of fourth-grade children in the United States lack basic reading skills; 20 percent of all graduating high-school seniors are classified as functionally illiterate (meaning that their reading and writing skills are insufficient for ordinary practical needs); and about 42 million adults in the United States cannot read. So you're not nuts to take a reading problem seriously.

Now for some perspective. First, let's take a moment to recognize that compared with the development of oral language, the acquisition of reading is unnatural. Speech and the ability to understand speech can be considered the result of a natural process in the sense that the requisite skills emerge without formal training. Several species of animal employ sounds such as clicking, whistles, song, or foot tapping in a fashion that constitutes focused and targeted communication (and dolphins actually seem to have names for one another). Before children can speak fluently, they move from sounds to words, words to phrases, and so on, acquiring their growing expertise from exposure to the speech around them. They then make efforts to speak, with little formal guidance. By contrast, children must be taught to read.

The good news for kids who have trouble reading is that while a deficiency in reading may look like an across-the-board failure, it is often a local problem in just one or two of the components that add up to the ability to read. Reading, like golfing or playing the guitar, is not one big global skill but a constellation of many smaller ones. When we read fluently, the little skills weave together so seamlessly that they look like a single expertise.

It's important to look at the components because a holdup in the development of any single one may be at fault in a child's poor performance in reading. If we can identify the component that's not doing its share, we can do a great deal to improve reading. The components that make up reading are interrelated and overlapping, but distinguishable:

Vocabulary: knowing the meanings of words. A child's comprehension of what is read depends on this. Better vocabulary better prepares a child for reading.

Comprehension: understanding and being able to interpret what is read, connecting the printed words and sentences with human experience.

Phonological awareness: identifying and manipulating units of oral language, such as words, syllables, and onsets (beginnings of words) and rhymes. Children who have phonological awareness can recognize that sentences are made up of words, words can be broken down into sounds and syllables, sounds can be deleted from words to make new words, and different words can begin or end with the same sound or have the same middle sound(s).

Decoding: breaking down words into their constituent sounds and building words from those sounds. This begins with blending sounds ("puh" plus "al" equals "pal") and extends into sounding out words the child has never seen before by recognizing the sounds of letters and syllables that form them.

Fluency: reading smoothly with accuracy, speed, and expression that conveys the sense of what's being read.

As a parent with no particular professional expertise in teaching literacy, there's a lot you can do on the level of normal play and routine home life to promote reading—and without turning it into a chore or a high-pressure struggle.

Parents can begin working on the components of reading when their child is still an infant and extend the process throughout childhood. To begin with, the more the child knows about oral language, the better. When she begins to read she will draw upon a reserve of expertise that she first built up as a speaker and listener: vocabulary, comprehension, phonological awareness, connecting words to things.

With infants, talk to the child and encourage him to make a range of talklike sounds. Begin reading to the child, and keep books around, including some within the child's reach. Do what you can to make reading fun, enjoyable, peaceful, and engaging, setting the stage for what comes next at the toddler level. You are building command of sounds, love of reading, and an appreciation of the value and importance of books.

With toddlers and preschoolers, it helps to connect reading to some routine such as bed time, nap time, or a pre- or after-meal lull. Select topics she likes; let the child select books for you to read. Get in the habit of activities or games that rhyme and otherwise play with sounds: songs, jingles, made-up phrases (e.g., "Billy is silly" to catch the rhyming sounds, "Sally sounds silly" to catch the sound of the initial S). Nursery rhymes are especially rich in words, rhyming, and other fundamentals. Talk about a greater range of subjects, even very mundane ones—like pointing to the parts of a car or animal in an illustration and labeling them. As you read, stop and ask a gentle question: "What do you think Babar is thinking here?" or "What do you think will happen next?" These are great for comprehension. If the question is too difficult, offer a little more guidance by attaching a statement: "I'll bet Babar is a little lonely. What do you think would make him feel better?" Also, you can encourage your child to experiment with writing, which helps reading because she uses sounds to try to write the word. You might see the child write "sn" for "sun," a great start that shows awareness of sounds and the breakdown of words into sounds.

As your child continues in elementary school and begins to work hard during the school day on reading, it's a good idea to continue reading with and to him, mixing in casual writing practice (some kids will go for the idea of alternating entries in a journal with a parent) and talking over dinner and in other family settings about what the child has read. If there's a series of books that speaks to one of your child's enthusiasms, helping him get into that series will allow him to become familiar with continuing characters and engage with a larger story, which makes even new books seem familiar. Keep a dictionary around and easily accessible, and use it once in a while, inviting your child to do this with you. The dictionary not only reinforces vocabulary and comprehension, it helps your child decode words by showing that they are composed of syllables that can be sounded out. Make up word games to play while driving or in a store. "Think of words that sound like snow" is good for a first or second grader, but you can work up to more complicated games for older children. If you make the play competitive (if your family's into that), please resist the temptation to rattle off 50 words in a row and then do your special taunting wiggly victory dance. And, of course, continue to show by your actions and not just your pronouncements that reading is engaging, relevant, and a path to fresh experiences. Keep books around where your child can pick them up in the natural course of things. And don't forget to pick up a book yourself. Model the desired intimacy with books; don't just preach it.

You can't add becoming a full-time reading tutor to the already full-time demands of parenting, and children will vary in interest, ability, and attention, so you'll inevitably have to select just a few of the many possible activities to promote reading skills. In general, go for regularity—a little almost every day, as part of a routine that links reading to the more relaxed moments in the day—rather than a Shakespeare marathon one Saturday a month. And when setting priorities, bear in mind that two activities are clearly the most critical:

1. Read aloud to the child. It shows that reading is important, part of everyday life, and fun, and allows you to model the basic component skills. It's fine to read the same books over and over, as many children like to do. Research indicates that repeated readings help a child to integrate words better; comprehend meaning; and connect sounds, words, and meaning. Even on the 50th time through the same story, interact during the reading to bring the child into the activity. "What is Pooh doing? What do you think is in the jar?"

2. Help the child understand that letters are related to sounds and that words can break down into sounds. Ultimately, the child's reading will advance by being able to sound out words, not by memorizing individual words. There are alphabet books to help you work with your child to connect letters to sounds. In the middle of reading, stop and sound out a word. "Let's sound this out together: Errr ... un. Run! He's getting ready to run."

Reading may be important and complex and very scary when your child has trouble with it, but parents should take heart in remembering that mundane low-pressure practice during games and other activities with you can make an enormous difference. Even a slightly increased sensitivity to breaking down sounds or rhyming, even a slightly heightened familiarity with books and motivation to engage with them, can provide a significant boost at school. Reading preparation is at the top of the list of factors that make a difference in school achievement. Such preparation need not—and should not—feature threats, severity, and drudgery. Instead, help your child to read by doing what you do anyway—playing with him, talking with her—in a slightly more purposeful manner.

You may well have questions. Here are some common ones.
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How will I know if my child has a reading problem?

The news usually comes in one or more of three ways.

1. School feedback. If your child's teacher alerts you to a problem, resist falling into the blame game. If the teacher asks, "Do you ever read to him at home?" don't come back with, "Aren't you teaching him to read at school? Whatever you're doing isn't working."

2. Your child's statements. The child may well make general or specific comments: "I don't want to read," "I can't do this," "I don't get what's happening in this story." More likely, your child will just express frustration. Strong resistance against practicing reading, including blanket statements like "Reading is dumb" is an obvious sign.

3. Behaviors you can observe—reluctance to be read to, getting stuck on most words in a sentence, slow or no reaction when you ask a simple question like, "What is the sound of that letter?" Another warning sign would be if the child's reading is very slow. Accuracy in early reading is much more important than speed, but if you can wash and dry the dishes before the sentence is completed, fluency is a problem. Or you may notice that the child gets the beginning of the word but guesses at the rest of it—reading "smoke" as "smile," for instance—which suggests she is trying to memorize whole words instead of breaking them down to sound them out.

Can't I just wait until the child gets to school, where they have teachers trained to teach reading?

You could, but it would be better if you did not. Practicing the components of reading in the home doesn't mean you force reading before your child is ready to, but you can help develop important skills without rushing the process, and the child who does practice those skills will do better when he does get to school and is ready to read in earnest. Studies show that having more of the component skills in place at age 5 predicts better school achievement at ages 7 and 15.

What do I do if I think my child has a reading problem?

A reading evaluation can be very important. A trained specialist can identify weakness in any of the component skills and will know how to work on it. Bear in mind that the child's negative reaction to reading alone will not necessarily show you where the problem is. Your best bet is to ask your child's teacher, school psychologist, or principal to bring in a reading specialist. Or if you prefer to seek out help on your own, you can do your own search for a reading specialist online or in the phone book. A little respectful tact in dealing with your child's teacher may well be necessary, but you're not questioning the teacher's competence or going over her head by consulting a specialist. Reading is a well-developed area of educational specialization, with masters and doctoral-level professionals who can offer very focused assistance that goes beyond what can happen in the classroom. Plan to work with the teacher, as will any reading specialist your child ends up seeing.

There are more serious problems—auditory disorders, dyslexia, pervasive developmental disorder—that can lead to reading impairment. One reason to go to a specialist is that there are different strategies associated with addressing each of the many causes of a reading problem.

What if my child can read, but just won't? What if my child just has an attitude problem?

You can be certain of motivational problems only if all of the component skills are well established. As a parent, you probably cannot determine this on your own. But if you've taken your child for a reading evaluation and the problem really is just motivational, then you might try the following: Establish more reading routines; engage in more talking about reading at the dinner table; have the child select a book to read together at the book store; switch to engaging magazines or something else other than a book that has words to read; read stories connected to movies, and see the movies with the child.

If my child is pulled out of class for an intensive reading program or I enroll her in an outside program for a few weeks, will that bring her up to speed?

A few weeks in an intensive reading program, all by itself, probably will not be enough. A program that is sustained and supported in the home is more likely to have staying power. Research suggests that much can be done to help the child and build the skills needed, and that steady progress takes precedence over a quick fix. Most of the time, the mundane, gamelike activities I've discussed above will go far to improve reading and complement school activities. If you can start early, all the better. If you have the option, select day care, preschool, and kindergarten that emphasize sounding out, rhyming, and other pre-reading skills.

But do not leave the teaching of reading to the school. Without becoming a whip-cracking achievement monster, you can accomplish a great deal as part of a regular routine of play and home life.

For more information, try these sources:

National Institute for Literacy

National Right to Read Foundation

U.S. Department of Education

Reading Rockets
Alan E. Kazdin, current president of the American Psychological Association, is John M. Musser professor of psychology and child psychiatry at Yale University and director of Yale's Parenting Center and Child Conduct Clinic. Carlo Rotella is director of American studies at Boston College. They are the authors of The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child.

Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2206105/

Copyright 2008 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC

Involvement Matters

From the PTO Today Website:

Hundreds of research studies show that when parents get involved, children do better in school. We sum up the details that every parent should know.

What Every Parent Should Know

Researchers have been studying the effects parent attitudes and actions have on their children's academic success for more than 30 years. The results have been consistent. Anne Henderson and Nancy Berla summed it up in their book A New Generation of Evidence: The Family Is Critical to Student Achievement, which reviewed the existing research: "When parents are involved in their children's education at home, they do better in school. And when parents are involved in school, children go farther in school and the schools they go to are better."

Much of the information here is taken from publications by Henderson, a consultant at New York University's Institute for Education and Social Policy, and various coauthors that examine parent involvement research; and from publications by Joyce Epstein, director of the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University; the National Center for Parent Involvement in Education, which Henderson helped found; and summaries of research prepared by the Michigan Department of Education, San Diego Unified School District, and others.
Major Benefits

Research shows that when parents are involved in their children's education, the children are more likely to:

* earn better grades.
* score higher on tests.
* pass their classes.
* attend school regularly.
* have better social skills.
* show improved behavior.
* be more positive in their attitude toward school.
* complete homework assignments.
* graduate and continue their education.

More Is Better

Parents can serve many different roles in the educational process: home teachers, advocates for their children, volunteers, fundraisers, boosters. And they can even serve in decisionmaking and oversight roles for the school. The more parents participate in a sustained way at each of these levels, the better for student achievement.
Start Early

When parents get involved early in their children's education, the results are more pronounced and long-lasting.
At All Levels

Studies indicate that parent involvement in education has a positive effect at all grade levels: elementary, middle, and high school.
Dads Matter

In both two-parent and father-only households where dads are highly involved in their schools, children are more likely to:

* succeed academically.
* participate in extracurricular activities.
* enjoy school.

They are less likely to:

* have to repeat a grade.
* be suspended or expelled.

A Significant Difference

One study found that students from families with above-average parent involvement were 30 percent more successful in school than those with below-average involvement. Success was measured by GPA; test scores in math, science, reading, and social studies; promotion and retention rates; and teacher ratings.
Also Significant

Another study found that in schools where teachers reported high levels of outreach to parents, test scores grew at a rate 40 percent higher than in schools that reported low levels of outreach to parents.
Home and School

A three-year study of 12,000 high school student concluded that "When parents come to school regularly, it reinforces the view in the child's mind that school and home are connected and that school is an integral part of the whole family's life."
Reading and the Parent Group

A two-year study of home and school influences on literacy achievement among children from low-income families found that the single variable most positively connected to all literacy skills was formal involvement in parent-school activities such as PTO participation, attending school activities, and serving as a volunteer.
Tell the Principal

Schools with involved parents enjoy:

* better morale among teachers.
* higher ratings of teachers by parents.
* more support from families.
* a better reputation in the community.

Parents Benefit, Too

When parents become involved in their children's education, the parents are more likely to:

* be more confident at school.
* be more confident in themselves as parents and their ability to help their children learn.
* be held in higher esteem by teachers and have teachers expect more from their children.
* enroll in continuing education to advance their own schooling.

A Final Note

Why should parents get involved? Because involvement can make a dramatic difference for their children.

Why should school administrators encourage involvement? Because it can make a significant difference, both in school atmosphere and in the success rate of students—especially when parents are included as partners in the educational process.

Parent involvement is a powerful tool. Spread the word.

Green Playspace Music Video

Hello all,

We've put together a short music video commemorating the grand opening of the green play area on September 5, 2008. Hope you enjoy it.

Ready Or Not: Board to Vote on Redistricting

Click here to go to the original article from the Stamford Advocate-9/22/08

STAMFORD - As parents protest, the Board of Education is preparing to vote Tuesday on a plan that will redraw attendance zones for Stamford's 12 elementary schools.

"You have to be brave to do redistricting," said Polly Rauh, a former educator who heads the Education Committee of the Board of Representatives, and a critic of the plan.

The vote could end a protracted effort to bring the student bodies of schools into a socioeconomic balance close to that of the district. The effort began 18 months ago, resulting in a decision to move students from Rogers Magnet Elementary to a largely state-funded magnet school under construction in the Cove.

At the first of two public hearings held Sept. 9, parents from Northeast Elementary School's district, north and east of High Ridge Road, opposed a plan to send those children to Davenport Ridge Elementary School. They have collected about 400 signatures objecting to the move.

Lisa Walker, the parent of a fourth-grader at Northeast, contacted board members asking them to leave her neighborhood alone. "What I would hope is there are enough arguments made and enough dissent that they will minimally postpone it," she said.

The central office Friday released an analysis of the potential effect of removing her neighborhood from the plan, along with other possible changes.

The same day, several board members said they needed more information before deciding.

"Certainly, I have questions," board member Julia Wade said. "I don't know if all the board members are comfortable with the timetable."

Wade said her decision would depend on data from central office and discussion Tuesday.

Board member James Rubino said he favored the first of the four options and was ready to vote.

"I don't want to substantially deviate from any plans," he said.

Modifying a plan would mean extending the public comment period, he said.

Board member Ed Mathews said he was uncomfortable proceeding because a decision should wait for the final enrollment numbers due Oct. 1.

The redistricting proposals drawn up by Superintendent Joshua Starr's staff take into account the accuracy of enrollment projections, student retention and state projections for future enrollment. But the numbers are based on enrollment counts from Oct. 1, 2007.

For example, K.T. Murphy School's bilingual program - which could be moved to Northeast - had about 105 students last year, according to Starr's office. But this year, school administrators estimate that 80 students are enrolled.

Acknowledging that tabulations of the number of disadvantaged students in each school will change, Starr has held his options to a narrow 5 percent margin near the district average of 48 percent disadvantaged students. That should delay the need to redistrict again, Starr said.

A board rule requires that each school have a socioeconomic balance within 10 percentage points of the district average for elementary schools. The standard is stricter than the state's 25 percent requirement. But the rule is based on the racial, not socioeconomic, makeup of a school.

Gary Orfield, a professor of education at the University of California at Los Angeles, said board members would do well to make a swift final decision. Consensus on a redistricting plan will not happen, Orfield said.

"Have an open discussion and give a rationale about why it's being done and answer the questions and make a decision and then stick to it," he said. "After a certain amount, it just gets worse. People from one neighborhood get mobilized, and people from another neighborhood get mobilized, and it just spirals."

- Staff Writer Wynne Parry can be reached at 964-2263 or wynne.parry@scni.com.

Letter to the Redistricting Committee

This is a letter Danette Melchionne has written to the BOE Redistricting Committee concerning options 1and 2, and their likely ramifications on the bilingual program. Please feel free to comment below and add your voice to the conversation.


To the Redistricting Committee:

I would like to first acknowledge all the countless hours and hard work that is being put into the redistricting of the Stamford Schools. I’m the first one on board with the need for redistricting. It is very much needed amongst all the schools. I realize the entire process is going to be disheartening to many families and some of the changes are unavoidable, which makes this task difficult for everyone involved. My children fortunately will not be directly impacted in the changes but will be indirectly.

My one main concern is with Options 1 & 2 which both propose “moving” the bilingual program from KT Murphy to Northeast.

What happens to the families that opt not to participate in the bilingual program?

Due to the location of the program it creates the following cascading issues:

· Many of the bilingual parents walk their children to school. If moved, this would create the inability to get to their child if needed, or to be able to attend any type of meeting, events or programs.

· Faced with this concern as a bilingual parent it is inevitable that those same families that would otherwise enroll their children in the bilingual program will therefore enroll in the English program at Murphy.

As a result this will not only hinder the bilingual students learning capabilities, but will impact the teachers, other students, and test scores. KT Murphy and the City of Stamford employ some great administrators, teachers and staff, but we are setting those exceptional educators up for failure. They are not equipped or prepared to effectively address additional learning needs that will be required with the Spanish speaking students that do enroll in the English based programming due to the demographics.

Bottom line: moving the bilingual program in its entirety is not going to address the current overcrowding in the school, disadvantaged population or improve test scores.

I know you all have spent countless hours on the 4 options proposed. I hope you please take my above concerns in consideration when preparing for your final vote.

In summary on behalf of KT Murphy:

· Yes we need redistricting.

· Yes we need to address overcrowding.

· Yes we need to address balancing the disadvantaged population.

· Yes we need to improve our test scores.

· Yes this will breakup up a “community”.

· Yes offer dual programming at KT Murphy. The program and teachers are there. It works. Why recreate something that is currently working?

· NONE of this will be achieved by moving the bilingual program in its entirety to the complete opposite end of Stamford. I work on Summer Street and reside in the Cove. It takes me over a ½ hour each way some days to get to and from work. I can’t imagine a student sitting on a bus for longer than my simple commute. Let’s put that 1 plus each day to better use, with programming or study time. Options 1 & 2 also increase walkers into riders which as we all know is $$ that can put towards teachers, programming, etc.

Thank you for your time and I hope you will please review and take my above concerns into consideration when you make your final vote on Tuesday evening. I trust you will make the right choice for the future of KTM students and for all the Stamford Schools.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.


Regards.



Danette Melchionne

Stamford Advocate Covers Our Green Space Opening

This article on the opening of our green space play area was published by the Advocate on September 9, 2008. We're re-posting it here for posterity. If you'd like to read it on the Advocate site, click here.


Ex-K.T. Murphy Students see their dream come true

By Wynne Parry
Staff Writer
Article Launched: 09/09/2008 02:40:37 AM EDT

STAMFORD - When a horde of kindergartners and first-graders from K.T. Murphy Elementary School rushed through a snipped ribbon into a new playground on George Street last week, a 9-year-old dream came true.

But the students who advocated for the patch of grass with slides and a climbing wall hung back. Now seniors in high school, their playground days are over.

Steven Totino, a senior at Westhill High School, said he doubted the day would come. As a third-grader at K.T. Murphy, he and others sought green space for the school, which had none.

"I remember just playing on all concrete - kickball, basketball," Totino said.

In 1999, while drafting its 20-year master plan, the city asked students to help. Third-graders at K.T. Murphy suggested the city purchase property adjacent to the school, making their case before the Planning Board in 2000, said Robin Stein, land use bureau chief.

"I did it for my teacher. I wanted to do it because I was with my friends," said former K.T. Murphy student Christopher Festa, now a senior at Westhill.

Nothing happened until 2006, when the homeowner at 44 George St. remembered the students' appeal when he decided to sell his 0.16-acre property.

To make their case for appropriating the $650,000 to buy the property, some of the original students went before the Board of Finance and the Board of Representatives.

Totino doesn't remember the initial presentation from third grade, but he remembers going before the elected boards two years ago.

"I was nervous speaking, but I was glad I did," he said.

The ribbon-cutting Friday marked the first time children were allowed onto the new playground.

"This is one of the highlights of my career. It is an example of what our youth can accomplish," Stein said during a presentation.

He had hoped to invite the homeowner, Jack Thorme, but was unable to find him, Stein said.

- Staff Writer Wynne Parry can be reached at 964-2263 or wynne.parry@scni.com.